Training
People 1st call for chef training promotion
This comes as recent research by the charity reported a sharp decline in the number of students taking on full-time chef training programmes, with 51% of colleges saying they had seen a fall in interest.
Simon Tarr, managing director of People 1st, said: “Recent government changes to the curriculum have had a devastating effect on colleges offering the City and Guilds Diploma in Professional Cookery.
“The diploma was intended to ensure consistency in chef training… however, colleges must now deliver English and Maths GCSEs within the same number of hours and this is simply not sustainable.
“Already we will have seen a quarter of colleges decide to stop offering this course over a three year period, meaning that the industry is facing a huge problem in finding skilled chefs in the years to come.”
Research claimed 26% of hospitality businesses with current chef vacancies said they were finding those vacancies hard to fill.
Tarr added: “Our research shows that by 2022 the hospitality industry needs to recruit 11,000 chefs.
“We feel that it is vital to halt the decline in the number of skilled chefs. We know that the Professional Cookery Diploma and the new Professional Chef and Production Chef apprenticeships, delivered by accredited colleges and providers genuinely meet the needs of employers and, as such, can provide individuals with guaranteed employment and recruiters with staff who are ready to hit the ground running and help their businesses to succeed.”
